THE CEDAR TAVERN SINGERS (AKA LES PHONORÉALISTES)

BIOS

Daniel Wong is an interdisciplinary artist from Lethbridge, Alberta working in a range of forms including installation, performance, writing, drawing and music. He received a BFA from the University of Lethbridge in 2003 and an MFA from the University of Western Ontario in 2006.

Mary-Anne McTrowe has a BFA from the University of Lethbridge and an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal. Her work spans a number of media, and recent interests include the crocheting of cozies for everyday objects and the proposing of ever-larger cozies for natural and man-made architecture, and performance and static work about the sasquatch. It was during a thematic residency at The Banff Centre in 2006, perhaps under the influence of cabin fever, that Daniel joined talents with Mary-Anne to form The Cedar Tavern Singers (AKA Les Phonoréalistes), to fight the good fight and sing the good song (and occasionally the bad song).

STATEMENT

“Through our collaborative practice, we appropriate and remix themes and ideas both popular and obscure. Through this juxtaposition of esoteric art historical knowledge and popular culture we attempt to covertly expose this information to a wider audience. This gesture is equal parts sincerity and irony. We hope that our objects, images and performances evoke both an idolizing passion for and a satirical nudge at our source material — both the ambitions of Modern Art history and the do-it-yourself ethos of folk and lo-fi music. With Sweet Home Alberta, we turn our attention to the subject of Alberta and continue our exploration of the forms of popular music—songs and performances, album covers, band ephemera. We remix the Alberta landscape and culture-scape and attempt to envision a universe where the most pressing and popular topics for today’s musicians include ballads to Chris Cran, the Alberta Creative Development Initiative program and which features of Alberta geography would make the best album covers.”